3. There are over 300 languages spoken in London, more than any other city in the world.

4. There are more than 17,000 music performances a year across London's 300+ venues including the O2 arena - the world's most popular music venue.

5. 84% of Londoners think that the city's cultural scene is important in ensuring a high quality of life. (GLA/ICM research).

6. London has over 170 museums with 11 national museums including the British Museum - home to thousands of years of culture including the Rosetta Stone (196 BC).

7. Over 250 festivals take place in London every year including the largest free festival the Mayor’s Thames Festival, and Europe's biggest street festival, the Notting Hill Carnival which attracts near one million people.

8. The firstperformance of a Punch and Judy show at Covent Garden was recorded in Samuel Pepys's diary entry for 9 May 1662 (...oh yes there is!)

9. London presents more live comedy than any other city in the world. From hosting new talent in the backrooms of pubs to the likes of Chris Rock and Steve Coogan in major arenas.

10. London dominates the UKvisual arts sector, which accounts for 30% of the global art market.

11. London has played a major role in countless films from A Clockwork Orange to Harry Potter and is the world’s third busiest film production centre with over 14,000 ‘shooting days’ including the 24th Bond film Spectre, filmed here at City Hall.

12. Over a fifth of all the UK’s cinema screens are based in London. There are more cinema screens in the capital (796) than in any other part of the country.

13. London Fashion Week generates over £100m of orders and over 32,000 hours of digital content watched in the UK from more than 100 countries.

14. From the first performance of Shakespeare at The Globe in 1599 there are now at least 200 shows to choose from every day across the West End.

15. Wilton’s Music Hall in the city is the world’s oldest surviving Music Hall, built in 1743 and still a living piece of London’s musical history.

16. In the last 5 years, London based artists Adele, Coldplay, Pink Floyd and Amy Winehouse (RIP) have been the world's best-selling recording artists.

17. London has more than 800 bookshops and over 380 public libraries including the British Library, which holds the Magna Carta.

18. The London Design Festival is now the world’s leading event of its kind, which attracted over 350,000 people to innovative projects and cutting edge design.

19. A third of all the UK’s archives are in London including the National Archives which dates back to the 11th century and preserves William the Conqueror's Domesday survey.

20. London boasts some of the oldest milliners in the world includingLock & Co (est. 1676) famous for creating Lord Nelson's original bicorn hat, as well as a specially commissioned version for Hatwalk as part of the London 2012 Festival.